Roy tears apart the latest bit of drivel by David Frum paragraph by paragraph, but I just couldn't let this closing line of Frum's go unremarked (emph. added):
... we could discover that the next generation of young people reacts to the failures of an Obama presidency by rediscovering the enduring Republican principles of limited government, individual rights, strong national defense and pragmatic effective governance.
This has to be a keyboard macro. Not even Frum can believe this mantra any longer. I mean … TSA, DHS, warrantless wiretapping, secret prisons, torture memos, broken army, science replaced by religion, "heckuva job, Brownie," … hello?
One small sign of hope: evidently, even Frum's computer refuses to add "party of fiscal responsibility" any longer.
4 comments:
Interesting. David Frum was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of Barbara Frum, who was a well-respected and influential journalist in Canada. The Canadian version of Sesame Street even had a (visiting) character named "Barbara Plum."
I often wonder how David Frum's politics evolved in such a way.
*This has to be a keyboard macro. Not even Frum can believe this mantra any longer. I mean … TSA, DHS, warrantless wiretapping, secret prisons, torture memos, broken army, science replaced by religion, "heckuva job, Brownie," … hello?*
LOL. And good point.
It occurred to me a long time ago that even if America turned into a fascist state, we would never lose our self-conception. It's not like we would change the words of the National Anthem to "the home of the heavily oppressed."
No, no matter what Bush and the Republicans and McCain and our future leaders do to this country and our heritage, we will always conceive of ourselves in terms that are increasingly untrue.
'Tis unfortunately true, Twinswords.
And all the more tragically, Americans' ignorance of history (and lots of other things) is the grease that keeps those wheels rolling.
I was in a class the other day-the whole hour was dedicated to a discussion of the constitutionality and/or desirability of torture. Of course the old "ticking time bomb," "Jack Bauer" scenario was the discussion's frame.
When I explained to my colleagues that the whole question was largely moot since torture yields unreliable information, I was asked what liberal website I had gotten that malarkey from.
When I explained that the army field manual said as much, I got blank stares.
When I explained that Soviet gulags were full of people who had confessed to crimes they hadn't committed, I was blinked at.
When I asked how many of the people who confessed to the Spanish Inquisitors were actual witches, I got blank stares.
I then stopped talking.
Beth:
I did know Frum was from Canada, but I didn't know he was, in effect, a wayward soul. The funny thing about him is that he can sometimes sound intelligent (although I usually disagree with him) and then he'll pen a piece of dreck like this one. I am inclined to think he's flailing about looking for work, since the candidate he was working for (Giuliani) crashed and burned.
jj and twin:
Nothing to add to what you all said, except a sad nod.
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